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Hardware Help Guides

CD Burner Hardware Help

Hardware Devices can be easier to troubleshoot than CD Burning Software
if the right troubleshooting procedures are taken. This section will cover
the different aspects to the Hardware from testing for faults to configuring
the technology used to connect the internal CD Burner or external CD Burner
to the PC.

Testing Burners for faults

Testing the hardware for a CD Burner fault should be made a standard procedure
whenever dealing with CD Burning problems.This test can also be used for
CD-ROMs and DVD Burners that may also have a fault as the same technology
is used to connect the hardware devices to the Motherboard of the PC. See
CD Burner Hardware Test to establish if the CD Burner has a hardware fault.

Troubleshooting & Configuring Your CD Burner

CD Burners use the same technology as a CD-ROM but with an additional
feature allowing users to copy or duplicate data or audio onto blank
media.
CD Burners can be internal or external devices with a broad range of different
speeds and technologies used to connect the device to the main System.

With any PC hardware you need to look at specific things such as the technologies
used when trying to solve a problem with a device. The following will cover
troubleshooting help for some of the different technologies used for CD
Burners and other Optical Devices along with configuring your system for
CD Burning.

IDE Burner

CD Burners that are internal are usually IDE Devices that connect to two
IDE ports on the motherboard. The CD Burner drivers are actually the drivers
for the IDE ports, these drivers can be updated or installed by downloading
the latest Chipset Drivers for the motherboard. See the IDE
Burner section
for more information on how to install IDE Burners.

PCMCIA Burner

CD Burners using PCMCIA connections was a favorite for those who needed
to create back-up on a laptop when on the move. With a PCMCIA
Burner being
an external CD Burner and compact it was easier to carry than that of a
USB CD Burner.

Parallel Burner

Parallel CD Burners are nearly extinct but their users seem to pop-up
on different sites across the web, so this little section is for them.
Parallel CD Burners were top market for their time as a useful external
data storage back-up. The only bad point these CD Burners was the slow
speeds they offered. Read the Parallel Burner section for more information
on troubleshooting Parallel devices and configuring
Parallel device.